Stephen Curry (30) shoots as he is defended by San Antonio's Cory Joseph (5) in the first half. The Golden State Warriors played the San Antonio Spurs at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., on Monday, April 15, 2013.

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

Stephen Curry (30) shoots as he is defended by San Antonio's Cory...

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Festus Ezeli (31) puts up a shot in the second half defended by Aron Baynes (16) and Nando de Colo (25). The Golden State Warriors played the San Antonio Spurs at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., on Monday, April 15, 2013.

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

Festus Ezeli (31) puts up a shot in the second half defended by...

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San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee waves to the crowd at Oracle Arena after the Warriors defeated the Spurs. The Golden State Warriors played the San Antonio Spurs at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., on Monday, April 15, 2013.

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee waves to the crowd at Oracle Arena after...

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Stephen Curry (30) almost collides with San Antonio's Nando de Colo (25) in the first half while chasing a loose ball. The Golden State Warriors played the San Antonio Spurs at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., on Monday, April 15, 2013.

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

Stephen Curry (30) almost collides with San Antonio's Nando de Colo...

The Warriors played only about 4 1/2 minutes of playoff-caliber basketball Monday night, but that was enough to beat San Antonio's junior-varsity squad and move back into sole possession of sixth place in the Western Conference.

Stephen Curry scored 11 of his 35 points during an electric 4 1/2-minute stretch in which the Warriors put away the Spurs for a 116-106 victory that had Oracle Arena's 32nd consecutive sellout crowd chanting his name during offensive possessions. Curry hit 7 of 13 three-point tries in the game.

"He put on an incredible shooting clinic," Warriors head coach Mark Jackson said. "I don't know who is in second place for the best shooter in the world, but he certainly has first place locked up."

After Nando De Colo made a three-pointer to trim the Warriors' lead to 88-87 with 9:29 remaining, Curry went nuts. He made an acrobatic reverse layup and three three-pointers from silly body contortions to ignite a 19-0 run.

The Warriors (46-35) moved a game ahead of seventh-place Houston, which lost to the Western Conference's worst team, Phoenix. The Rockets close the regular season at the Lakers on Wednesday. The Warriors can clinch the sixth seed and a likely first-round date with Denver by winning at Portland that night.

The Spurs (58-23) have lost six of their past nine past games to fall out of the Western Conference's top spot, and they basically forfeited to the Warriors. San Antonio sat starters Tim Duncan (knee), Kawhi Leonard (knee) and Tony Parker (ankle), and Manu Ginobili (hamstring) and Boris Diaw (back) did not make the West Coast trip, which started with a loss to the Lakers on Sunday.

The Warriors had lost 50 of their past 57 meetings with San Antonio, but they snapped a 16-game losing streak in the series Feb. 22. Monday's victory gave the Warriors two wins over the Spurs in a calendar year for the first time since 1997.

The Warriors reversed the trend behind Curry's dead-eye shooting and defense that forced the Spurs to miss nine consecutive shots during the fourth-quarter run. Curry had 35 points, eight rebounds and five assists and is a three-pointer shy of tying the NBA's single-season record (269), set by Seattle's Ray Allen in 2005-06.

"I honestly didn't think (the record) was reachable going into the game," Curry said. "When I heard the crowd getting into it, I knew I was close. I didn't know if it was to break it or tie it or what have you, but it was a fun atmosphere."

The Warriors needed Curry to step things up, because most of the night lacked the intensity expected from a game that had playoff seeding repercussions. Klay Thompson had 23 points, Carl Landry added 16 on 7-of-9 shooting, and David Lee had his league-leading 55th double-double, but the Warriors made 21 turnovers and allowed the undermanned Spurs to shoot 50 percent in the first half.

"It's easy to look on the opposite side when there's no Duncan, no Parker, no Ginobili and even no Kawhi Leonard, and to let down your guard," Jackson said. "I've seen veteran teams do it. To a certain extent, we talked about it, but we still did it."

The Warriors started to show signs of life in the third quarter, when Curry scored 10 points in the opening 2:40. He then found rookie center Festus Ezeli, who had a career-high 13 rebounds and three blocked shots in his second consecutive start for Andrew Bogut, for a dunk and a 68-61 lead with 8:53 left. But the Warriors couldn't shake the shorthanded Spurs, and San Antonio closed it to 82-79 by the start of the fourth.

3's company

Stephen Curry went 7-for-13 from beyond the arc Monday night, leaving him one shy of Ray Allen's season record for three-pointers. The top four: